Changes in leadership at Indy, CSBJ

Publisher's Note

Twenty-two years after launching the Indy, it is time (or perhaps past time) for me to let our talented, sophisticated and dedicated team take our growing operations to the next levels.

Accordingly, on Sept. 17, I will be "promoted" to chair of the Colorado Publishing House, which is the name of the company that owns the Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal. I will remain active with all our seven newspapers and civic initiatives, but day-to-day as well as month-to-month leadership will be turned over to two dynamic women who are ready, able and ever so willing to lead our organization.

It is thus my enormous pleasure to announce Carrie Simison as the Independent's new publisher and Jen Furda as the new honcho (honcha) at the Business Journal, along with its military and legal newsweeklies.

File photos

Carrie Simison (left) and Jen Furda (right)

Carrie and Jen both are brilliant, hard-working, community-focused media professionals who will lead our papers, digital operations and community initiatives for years to come. Publishers Furda and Simison will compete to see who will most improve their already great publications and operations.

Ralph Routon — the wisest journalist in the Pikes Peak region — will serve as executive editor of the Colorado Publishing House, where he will mentor our incredible editorial teams, led by Vanessa Martinez at the Indy and Amy Gillentine at the CSBJ. Ralph will also continue his forthright and insightful columns in all of our papers, and oversee our opinion columnists.

Fran Zankowski, co-owner of the Colorado Publishing House with myself, will remain president of all our operations, overseeing revenue generation as well as providing ongoing guidance and mentorship to our new publishers.

It's been a wonderful and crazily wild ride. I have had the best job in the world.

And the best news is that with our new leadership in place, the very best is yet to come — for our newspapers, our community-building initiatives and for me.